Electroplating apparatus.



PATENTE D SEPT. 24, 1907.

L.POTTHOPP. BLEGTROPLATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. UNITED STATES LOUIS rorrnorr, OF rnusnmei NEW YORK.

ELECTROPLATING APP AR ATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, LoUIs Por'rrrorr, a citizen .of

the United .States, residing at Flushing, in the county of .Queens'andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin'Electroplating Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear,and

exact specification.

This invention relates to' electroplating apparatus and moreparticularly has for its object the production of an apparatus whereinthe entire handling of the material shall be accomplished mechanically,in transferring it from one tank to'another.

The invention is shown herein in two forms,'oneadapted for the automatichandling of small articles such as nails, et'c., and the other forelongated material such'as rods, pipes, etc., but both embodying thesame general principles of operation.

A further object is to improve upon apparatus heretofore devised by mefor handling small articles by the provision ofmeans whereby thematerial canbe auto matically discharged outside the tank, and toprovide improved and simplified circuit connections.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows an apparatus for handlingsmall articles; Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the electricalarrangements; Fig. 3 shows an apparatus for handling elongated.material, and Fig. 4 is a plan view. x

Beferring first to Figs. '1 and 2, 1 represents a tank for thegalvanizing solution, of usual construction and lined with acid proof"material. 2 is a similar tank containing a washing-solution of hotwater into which the articles are automatically discharged-from thegalvanizing tank, and thence, automatically discharged onto a table orother receptacle 3. The apparatus for small articles comprises arotatable barrel conveyer4 composed'of heads 5, 5, a side'6, and ismounted on a shaft 7, which is driven by a sprocket 8. The side 6 iscomposed of a number'of slats 9, within which is a porous lining'orsupport 10, for the material, composed of burlap, cane matting ersimilar material. Outside of the slats is an anode -11 of sheet zinc,and the latter is connected by wires 12 to a copper'bushing carried bythe shaft 7 and turning in copper bearings.

1i connected to the positive terminal of the current supply. Thenegative current connection is from the oppoeite bearing 15 to a copperbushing 16 and thence to arms or stirrers 17 which rotate with the drumand stir up the material which rests on the porous sup-' port10 v Inorder to automatically discharge the material, the

barrel is provided with a longitudinal opening 19, and

over this is a shield 20, forming a chamber 21, which prevents escape ofthe material except when the bar-'- rel-is rotated counter clockwise inFig. 1. .When rotating clockwise, the. material falls over the opening19 Specification of Letters'Patenti i Application-filed Mav 1,1906.-Serial No. 8191.649.

Patented Sept. 24. 1907.

other direction a: quantity of the material passes through the opening19 into the chamber 21 and thence falls outside the barrelwhen itreaches the position shown in Fig. 1.

washing tank '2, a pivoted door 23 is provided, which automaticallyfalls open so as to form a chute, down which the'material fromJchambe'r2l slides onto a chute 24 leadingto washing tank 2,

ofthe door, and 26 is a roller thereon which rides on a of the" materialtrapped in chamber 21 will open door and slide down into washing tank 2.

29 is a stop which lever engages and 30 isa pin mounted on an upright 31carried by the frame for closing the door automatically by engaging thelever 25. [In Fig. 1, arrow 32 indicates the direction of rota-' tionwhen galvanizing, and the material" falls across opening 19 withoutbeing trapped in chamber 21. When the material is to be'discharged, thebarrel is rotated'in the direction of arrow 33, thus trapping materialin chamber 21, which cannot escape until the roller 26 rides off theright end of track 27, thereby enabling the material to fall out on thedoor 23 and closed, the lever clears pin 31, so that in the ordinaryrotation while galvanizing, no interference between supplied to contactwith. the orstirrers 17, and the current passes from the anode, throughthe soluthence out through the arms 17. I

In the water tank 2 is mounted a rotary conve' .formed of a plurality ofbaskets or buckets having straight sides 36 and curved sides 37, androtating in a porous circular basket 38, which forms a' continuation ofthe chute 24. At the opposite side is a chute 39 leading to table 3, andpositioned so as to form a continuationnof the straight sides 36 of thebuckets. As

barrel down chute 24' into one of the buckets and is carried upthrough'the water and' automatically discharged onto table 3.. Theconveyor will be driven synchronously withthe drum in any suitablemanner;

prevents escape of material.

Because of the difference in the character of terial, the apparatus forlong material, such as pipes,

'ance.

without escaping, but when the barre rotates in the l is the tank, 2thewashing tank, as before. The

. In order to guide the discharged material into the,

25 is a cam shaped forked levercarried at one endthe door and the pinoccurs; 'Sufficient material istion and the porous support 10 to.the"material and bars, channels, &c., is somewhat different in appear- '110track27 to hold the door closed and prevent the escape a of materialbefore the door has reached its highest elev'ation and is about todescend, whereupon the weight chute Further rotation of the'barrel inthis direction, automatically closes the door by the engagement of lever25 with pin 31, and while't-he .door remains a yer35,.."- v

will be seen from Fig. 1, the material falls from the the ma- The porousbasket38 permits circulation of water but tank 1 is somewhat longer, andcontains a pair of fixed cathode rails 40 inclined to the direction oftravel, which support the material at the same time changing the pointof contact therewith.

41 is a conveyer having wooden pins 42 for moving the bars or pipes 43,one being provided for each side.

44 is a conductor carrying brushes 45 which bear on the material 43 -asit is moved along to help take out the current, as the contact withtherails 40 is no always sufficient to prevent burning.

46, 47, are'rotary arms which take the weight of the material at eachend in order to prevent breaking the pins 42, and thearms 47 are curvedin such manner that after lifting the material out it can roll down onto an oscillatory latch 48, which is operated by a lever 49 and cam 50to periodically discharge the material into tank 2, through which it ismoved and washed by arms 51 and discharged onto table 3 by a mechanismsimilar to that between tanks 1 and 2.

52is an anode of sheet zinc and is connected with a source of current inthe usual manner, and the cathodes 40 and 44 are connected to the otherside of the current supply as will be well understood. The shafts forthe conveyer and the other parts will be suitably driven as beforedescribed. If hollow articles are to be galvanized on both sides, it isdesirable to provide within the pipes inside anodes consistingof bars ofzinc. wrapped with porous material and connected to the current sourcein any suitable manner, these inside anodes dissolving away to producethe inside coating as described in my Patent No. 786,776, dated April 4,1905. From the foregoing description it will be seen that I haveprovided an electroplating apparatus which will, as long as it issupplied with material, perform automatically the operations ofgalvanizing and washing, obviating entirely the necessity of handlingthe material by hand. It has been found thatwith my improvements, oneman can attend to a number of machines, and consequently largely reducethe expense.

- At the same time the contact of the material and the support will beautomatically changed during the plating operation, so that an evencoating will be secured o'n all parts of the material. g

Having thus described my invention, I declare that what I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent,"is,

1. In an electroplating apparatus, the combination with a galvanizingtank, and a washing tank, of a single means for moving material throughthe galvanizing'tank to be galvanized and mechanically discharging thematerial into the washing tank from the. galvanizing tank, substantiallyas described.

2. In an electroplating apparatus, the-combination with a galvanizingtank, and a washing tank, of a single means for moving material throughthe galvanizing tank to be galvanized and mechanically discharging thematerial into the washing tank from the galvanizing tank, and means forautomatically discharging the material from the washing tank,substantially as described.

3. Inan electroplating apparatus, the combination with a galvanizingtank, and a washing tank, of means for moving material through thegalvanizing tank to be gulvm nized while automatically changing thepoints of contact between the material and its support, and mechanicallydischarging the material into the washing tank, substantially asdescribed.

4. In an electroplating apparatus, the combination with a galvanizingtank, of a single means for moving material washing tank, substantiallyas described.

through the galvanizing tank to be galvanized while automaticallychanging the points of contact between the material and its supportwhile being moved nnd mechanically discharging the material into thewashing tank, and means for automatically discharging the material fromthe 5. In an electroplating apparatus, the combination with agalvanizing tank, of ii tumbling barrel therein for shaking materialwhile being galvanized, a washing tank, said tumbling barrelmechanically discharging material directly into the washing tank,substantially as described.

6. In an electroplating apparatus, the combination with a galvanizingtank, of a tumbling barrel therein for slinking material while beinggalvanized, a washing tank, said tumbling barrel mechanicallydischarging material directly into the washing tank, and means forautomatically discharging material from the washing tank, substantiallyas described.

7. The combination with a tumbling barrel adapted to contain material tobe treated, and a tank, ofv menus whereby the mnterial can be dischargedby the tumbling barrel outside the tank without removing the barrel fromthe solution, substantially as described.

8. The combination with a tumbling barrel adapted to contain material tobe treated, and a tank, of means whereby the material is retained in thebarrel when rotated in one direction and discharged by the barreldirectly outside the tank when rotated in the opposite direction,substnntially as described.

f). The combination with a tumbling barrel adapted to contain materialto he treated, and a tank, of means where by the material is retained inthe barrel when rotated in one direction and discharged therefrom downan inclined surface directly outside the tank when rotated in theopposite direction, substantially as described.

10. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a galvanizingtank, and a washing tank, of a tumbling barrel .therein adapted toretain material when rotated in one direction and to discharge materialwhen rotated in the other, a washing tank, and means whereby thedischarged material is discharged by the barrel into the washing tank,substantially as described.

11. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a galvanizingtank, and a washing tank, of a tumbling barrel therein adapted to retainmaterial when rotated in one direction and to discharge material intothe washing tank when rotated in the other and means for discharging thematerial from the washing tank, substantially as described.

12. In a galvanizing apparatus, the combination with a galvanizing tank,of means for moving material through a galvanizing solution thereincomprising a tumbling burrel having a door, means whereby said door actsas a, .chute, means for discharging material from the barrel, and

a washing tank for-receiving the discharged material, substantially asdescribed.

13. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a tumblingbarrel, having a-door, of means for positioning said door to act as achute, means for discharging material carried by the barrel onto saiddoor when so positioned, a washing tank to receive the dischargedmaterial, and a conveyor in said tank for discharging the materialtherefrom, substantially as described.

14. The combination with a tank, of tumbling barrel therein, and thebarrel having means for automatically discharging material outside thetank through the side of' the barrel, substantially as described.

15. The combination with :1 tank, of u tumbling barrel'partiaily'immersed therein, and means for preventing the discharge ofmaterial from the barrel until the material is carried out of thesolution, substantially as described.

16. The combination with a tank, of a tumbling barrel partially immersedtherein, means for confining the ma- .teriai. and means whereby thematerial can be carried out and means for automatically discharging thematerial from the conveyer, substantially as described.

18. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a closure forthe side of the tumbling barrel, of means for automatically opening saidclosure to permit discharge,

of thematerial, substantially as described.

19. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a closure forthe side of a tumbling barrel, of means for automatically opening saidclosure upon reversal of the.

direction of movement to discharge the material. substantially asdescribed.

20. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a barrel havingan opening in the side, of a pivoted door for closing said opening, andmeans for positively preventing the opening of said door during aportion of the. revolution of said drum, substantially as'described.

21. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a barrel havingan opening in the side, of a movable door for closing said opening, anda shield for keeping material away from the door, substantially asdescribed;

22. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the combination with a barrel havinga longitudinal opening in the side, of a pivoted door for closing saidopening, and a shield within the barrel and preventing the access ofmaterialto J said door except when the barrel is rotated in onedirection, substantially as described.

23. In a tumbling barrel apparatus, the. combination with a barrelrotatably mounted on a shaft, of rotatable cathode terminals mounted torotate with said'barrel, said cathode terminals being within the barrel,an anode carried by the barrel, and electrical connections for saidanode and cathode passingthrough the shaft bearings, substan-- tially asdescribed.

. 24. In a. tumbling .barrel apparatus, the combination with a barrelhaving a pivoted closing door, of means whereby the door opens when acertain point is reached, and means for automatically closing the doorupon further movement in the same direction, substantially as described.25. The combination with atank, of a tumbling barrel therein providedwith means for mechanically discharging the material outside'the tankwithout removingthe barrel from the solution, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS POIITHOFB.

Witnesses JUL AN S. Woosrrm, Gno. A. HOFFMAN.

